The Guttmacher Institute is a research organization started in 1968 that works to study, educate, and advance sexual and reproductive health and rights.[1][2]The organization works mainly in the United States but also focuses on developing countries.[2]The Guttmacher Institute uses studies to help support policy making and program reform. [2]The Institute is named after obstetrician-gynocologist and the former president of Planned Parenthood, Alan F. Guttmacher. [3]The Guttmacher Institute has many sources of funding nationally and internationally.[2]One of the Institute's biggest projects is keeping a running list of the reproductive health laws and policies throughout the United States. [2]

Guttmacher Institute

Formation

1968; 50 years ago (1968) (as Center for Family Planning Program Development)

Contents

Founded in 1968, the Guttmacher Institute was originally called the Center for Family Planning Program Development and was a branch of Planned Parenthood.[3]After Alan Guttmacher’s death, the Center for Family Planning Program Development was renamed and became an independent non-profit organization.[3]In 2007, the organization officially split from Planned Parenthood. [1]

The Guttmacher Institute continually updates its analysis of state and national laws and policies about contraception and abortion.[2] The Institute keeps a record the restrictions that different states have put in place for reproductive health. The organization also keeps data about how teens are affected by pregnancy and the number of teens who use contraception.[2] Internationally, the Guttmacher Institute uses methodologies to give an approximation of abortions in places where the data is not as accessible or the abortions happen outside of the health care setting. [2]

In 2013, it was awarded a Population Center grant by the US National Institutes of Health in support of the Guttmacher Center for Population Research Innovation and Dissemination.[2] The Guttmacher Institute has received Charity Navigator’s highest 4-star rating annually since 2010.[4] In 2011 and 2013, the Institute was named the number one organization in the field of reproductive health by Philanthropedia.[5]

When the Institute was first started in 1968 as part of Planned Parenthood, its funding was solely from Planned Parenthood.[1]Once the Guttmacher Institute was no longer connected to Planned Parenthood in 2007, the organization only received less than 1% of its funding from Planned Parenthood in 2010[1]. Now, most of the funding is gained through private foundations based in the United States. Other funding does come from international organizations such as the World Health Organizationand the World Bank.[2]Over the last 25 years, the MacArthur Foundation has provided funding so that the Guttmacher Institute can conduct studies internationally on the abortion rates and reproductive health of women. [6]

The Guttmacher Institute has no political affiliation. Although their mission supports reproductive health, which also includes abortion, the organization is nonpartisan. The data released by the Guttmacher institute are respected, considered accurate, and used in media and by supporters of different political ideologies.[7]